Method of manufacturing colored doormats

ABSTRACT

A doormat is formed by accumulating a large number of monofilaments in a random loop form continuously to present a mottled pattern or a striped pattern by the combination of color monofilaments of two or more colors. This manufacturing device comprises a spinning pack having a rectangular shape for spinning a large number of monofilaments, a plurality of extruders disposed at symmetrical positions in the longitudinal direction of the spinning pack, and a collecting mechanism for collecting the monofilaments spun from the spinning pack. The spinning pack is provided with a resin flowpath unit and a multihole nozzle plate which are superposed, and the resin flowpath unit is connected to the extruders by means of communicating pipe lines disposed at symmetrical positions in the longitudinal direction. Main flowpaths for directly connecting the zone flowpaths communicating with each communicating pipe line and a plurality of branch flowpaths connected with the main flowpaths in crosswise manner are combined to be provided on an almost entire surface of the resin flowpath unit. Each zone flowpath is independently formed, and the multihole nozzle plate is formed with a nozzle hole to be communicated with each branch flowpath.

This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 08/318,938filed Oct. 6, 1994 now abandoned which is a divisional of Ser. No.08/263,671 filed Jun. 22, 1994 now abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to colored doormats, a method of manufacturingdoormats and a doormat manufacturing device in which the doormats,usually placed before a door or other entrance of a building or a house,for scraping mud or dirt from the shoes, and particularly, such doormatsare formed of numerous synthetic resin monofilaments in random loopsform, and such numerous synthetic resin monofilaments are respectivelycolored, and these colored synthetic resin monofilaments are combinedwith colored monofilaments of two colors or more than two colors toproduce mottled doormats or a striped doormats whereby attractivelycolored doormats having decorative effect or attraction of beauty areavailable.

Heretofore, many a mat which is produced by accumulating synthetic resinmonofilaments in random form have been known. However, the conventionaldoormat of this kind is not colored or decorated with a pattern, and theentire mat is formed in monochrome, and as a result, such mat is anextremely short of attractive power from the standpoint of shadings ofcolor, multi-coloration.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of this invention is to provide doormats which are formed byaccumulating numerous synthetic resin monofilaments in random loops andcombining the colored synthetic resin monofilaments with coloredsynthetic resin monofilaments of two colors or more than two colorswhereby mottled or striped doormats are available.

Another object of this invention is to provide a doormat manufacturingmethod and a doormat manufacturing device, in which in order to producemottled or striped doormats, numerous synthetic resin monofilament areaccumulated in random loops by combining the colored synthetic resinmonofilaments are accumulated in random loops by combining the coloredsynthetic resin monofilaments colored in two colors or more than twocolors, and a spinning pack of plane rectangular shape for spinningnumerous synthetic rein monofilaments comprises a resin flowpath unitand a multi-hole nozzle plate, and the resin flow path unit is providedwith communicating pipelines 5A, 5B, at symmetric positions inlongitudinal direction, and they are connected to extruders 6A, 6B, anda plurality of zone flowpaths 9A, 9B, are independently formed on analmost entire surface of the resin flow path unit to be communicatedwith each communicating pipe line 5A, 5B to feed the different coloredmolten resin from each extruder 6A, 6B, and a collecting belt isdisposed in the lower part of the spinning pack to accumulate thecolored monofilaments spun from the spinning pack in random form whichare supported on a pair of belt wheels rotating in the same direction.Particularly, a pattern to be formed by the colored monofilaments isfreely changed over to an expression of mottles or stripes by thedirection of forming numerous branch flowpaths to be provided on eachzone flowpath 9A, 9B. Each of the branch flowpaths is formed in a row inan oblique or parallel form in a crosswise direction of the resinflowpath unit.

A still further object of this invention is to provided a doormat, adoormat manufacturing method and a doormat manufacturing device in whichin lieu of the collecting belt disposed in the lower part of thespinning pack, a cooling water tank is provided and a forming roll isinstalled in the cooling water tank, and the colored monofilaments beingspun from the spinning pack are received by the surface of the formingroll to accumulate them in random pools and the resulting accumulationis transformed into three layers, a bottom layer, a surface layer, and amiddle layer sandwiched between the surface layer and the bottom layer,and the mottled pattern or the striped pattern are produced equally onthe surface layer, middle layer and bottom layer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a multicolor doormat having a mottledpattern;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a multicolor doormat having a stripedpattern;

FIG. 3 is a side of a spinning pack;

FIG. 4 is a plan of a resin flowpath unit and a multi-hole nozzle platesuitable for manufacture of multicolor doormat as shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a plan of a resin flowpath unit and a multi-hole nozzle platesuitable for manufacture of multicolor doormat as shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a plan of a multi-nozzle plate as shown in an embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a construction of a manufacturing devicefor working an Example 1;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a construction of a manufacturing devicefor working an Example 2;

FIG. 9 is a schematic view of a construction of a manufacturing devicefor working an Example 3;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view seen from reverse of a multicolor doormatmanufactured in the Example 3; and

FIG. 11 is a schematic view of a construction showing another embodimentof a manufacturing device for working an Example 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 shows a mottled multicolor doormat M produced by accumulating twocolored monofilaments in the A color and the B color in mutually randomloops and the adjacent monofilaments being different colors, and FIG. 2shows a striped multicolor doormat M' produced by disposing two coloredmonofilaments in the A color and the B color alternately in apredetermined width and accumulating the colored monofilaments in arandom loop form.

FIG. 3 shows a spinning pack of plane rectangular shape that spins outthe group of monofilaments to produce continuously the doormat havingthe color pattern in high productivity, and the spinning pack 1comprises a resin flowpath changeover unit 2 and a multi-hole nozzleplate 3, but the resin flowpath unit 2 is divided into a cover 2a and aflowpath frame plate 4 for the convenience of fabrication. The spinningpack is constructed by superposing the cover plate 2a, flowpath frameplate 4 and multi-hole nozzle plate 3 in this order from top to bottom.Communicating pipe lines 5A and 5B projecting at symmetrical positionsin the longitudinal direction of the resin flowpath frame plate 4 areconnected to extruders 6A and 6B to be used as shown in FIG. 7. The Acolored molten resin which is soft vinyl chloride resin, ethylene aceticacid vinyl polymer or the like is extruded and supplied from theextruder 6A, and the B colored molten resin which is soft vinyl chlorideresin, ethylene acetic acid vinyl polymer or the like is extruded andsupplied from the extruder 6B.

FIG. 4 is a plan of the multi-hole nozzle plate 3 provided on the resinflowpath frame plate 4 of the spinning pack 1, and this resin flowpathframe plate 4 is provided with main flowpaths 7A and 7B communicatingwith the communicating pipe lines 5A and 5B along both sides in thelongitudinal direction, and a plurality (5 stripes each in theillustration) of branch flowpaths 8A and 8B in oblique form are providedon these main flowpaths 7A and 7B alternately, and a zone flowpath 9A isformed by the group of the main flowpath 7A and the branch flowpath 8A,and also, a zone flowpath 9B is formed by the group of the main flowpath7B and the branch flowpath 8B which is in symmetric with the zoneflowpath 9A. Furthermore, a plurality of nozzle holes 10 are bored onthe multi-hole nozzle plate 3 which are exposed to each of the branchflowpaths 8A and 8B. The A colored resin is supplied to the zoneflowpath 9A through the communicating pipe line 5A connected to theextruder 6A and the A colored monofilament are spun from each nozzlehole 10 which is disposed to the zone flowpath 9A, and in the samemanner the B colored monofilaments are spun from each nozzle hole 10disposed to the zone flowpath 9B. When these A and B coloredmonofilaments are accumulated on the collecting belt 11 to be describedhereinafter while drawing the random loop form, the adjacentmonofilaments form the two color mottled pattern by the arrangement ofthe A and B colors.

FIG. 5 shows a plan of a resin flowpath frame plate 4' and a multi-holenozzle plate 3' of the spinning pack 1 to produce a colored stripeddoormat of different color by disposing the monofilaments of the samecolor in a width as shown in FIG. 2, and the resin flowpath frame plate4' is provided with the main flowpaths 7A and 7B communicating with thecommunicating pipe lines 5A and 5B along both the sides in thelongitudinal direction, but the one main flowpath 7A is provided on theentire length in the longitudinal direction of the resin flowpath frameplate 4', and the other main flowpath 7B is provided on the length of2/3 in the longitudinal direction of the resin flowpath frame plate 4'.The zone flowpath 9B is formed by arranging three stripes of the branchflowpaths 8B rectangularly at a position of the central portion of theresin flowpath frame plate 4' on the other main flowpath 7B, and thezone flowpath 9A is formed by arranging the three stripes of the branchflowpaths 8A on the one main flowpath 7A so that they are positioned atboth sides of the branch flowpaths 8B. Also, a plurality of nozzle holes10 are bored on the multi-hole nozzle plate 3' similar to FIG. 4 whichare disposed to each of the branch flowpaths 8A and 8B. The coloredmonofilaments are spun from each nozzle hole 10 by supplying the Acolored resin from the zone flowpath 9A and the B colored resin from thezone flowpath 9B like the manner as explained in FIG. 4 whereby in casethese monofilaments are accumulated on the collecting belt 11 to bedescribed hereinafter while drawing the random loop form, the stripedpattern is formed which is of the same color at a unit of a width ofeach three-stripe of the branch flowpaths 7A or the branch flowpaths 7B.

Thus, the mottled multicolor doormat or the striped multi-color doormatcan be freely changed over to manufacture by changing the resin flowpathframe plate 4 or 4'.

FIG. 6 shows a plurality of nozzle holes 10 on a flat surface of amulti-hole nozzle plate 3" without providing the branch flowpaths 8A and8B as shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5. In this case, the A colored resin andthe B colored resin flowing from the communicating pipe lines 5A and 5Bconnected to the extruders 6A and 6B are mixed in the nozzle plate 3" toaccumulate on the collecting belt 11 to be described hereinafter whiledrawing the random loop form by the nozzle holes 10, whereby the mottledpattern to be changed further from that of the doormat M as shown inFIG. 4 is available.

The following working examples illustrate the present invention morespecifically.

EXAMPLE 1

FIG. 7 shows a perspective view of a construction of a device formanufacturing continuously the multicolor doormats M and M' in highproductivity. In the drawing, reference numeral 11 shows a collectingbelt on which belt wheels 12 and 12 are in rotational contact in anidentical direction, and the spinning pack 1 is disposed in oppositionin the upper part closer to the lefthand of the collecting belt 11.Furthermore, a plurality of cooling devices 13 are disposed in the upperpart of the central portion of the collecting belt 11. A requireddistance is provided between the multi-hole nozzle plate 3 and thecollecting belt 11, and the transfer speed of the collecting belt 11 isset slower than the spinning speed of the group of monofilaments. Thegroup of monofilaments which are spun from each nozzle hole 10 isaccumulated on the collecting belt 11 while drawing the random loopform, and at the same time, the contacting monofilaments themselves aremutually and partially fused, and the doormat M of the uniform thicknessis continuously formed. The resulting doormat M transfers on thecollecting belt 11, and is cooled by the cooling device 13, and ispeeled off from the collecting belt 11 in the upper part of the beltwheel 12, and is coiled.

EXAMPLE 2

FIG. 8 shows a perspective view of a construction of a device forintensification of joining of the monofilaments of the doormats M andM', and in addition to the construction of the device shown in FIG. 7,an adhesive applying device 14, heating-drying device 15 and coolingdevice 16 are sequentially disposed from left to right according to theadvancing direction of the collecting belt 11 in the upper part of thecollecting belt 11. This embodiment shows that the doormats M and M'manufactured similar to the Example 1 are cooled by the cooling device13 and the doormat M shifting on the collecting belt 11 is applied withthe adhesive by the adhesive applying device 14, and is dried by theheating-drying device 15, and then, is cooled by the cooling device 16whereby the doormat is manufactured.

EXAMPLE 3

FIG. 9 shows that convex portions 17 of a diamond pattern at equalinterval are projectingly formed on the surface of the collecting belt11'. When the doormats M, M' are manufactured according to the Example 1using the collecting belt 11' provided with the convex portions 17 ofthe diamond pattern as described in the foregoing, the group ofmonofilaments are accumulated along the diamond pattern of the convexportions 17, and the bulged portion of the diamond pattern are formed onthe reverse of the doormats M, M', and cavity portions of the diamondpattern are formed by the convex portions 17 of each bulged portion,whereby the doormats M, M' having excellent anti-slippage effect arecontinuously formed whose entire surfaces are of concave and convexsurfaces as a whole as shown in FIG. 10. The doormat M" formed with theconcave and convex surfaces may be utilized for the mottled multicolordoormat or the striped multicolor doormat as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2.

By the way, the anti-slippage effect can demonstrate on account of theformation of the concave and convex surfaces having a variety of shapesby changing the convex portions 17 of the diamond pattern whichprojected on the collecting belt 11'.

EXAMPLE 4

FIG. 11 shows a schematic view of a construction of the device formanufacturing according to another manufacturing method.

In the construction of the this device, a cooling water tank 18 isdisposed in the lower part of the spinning pack 1, and a forming roll 19is disposed at a position immediately below the row of the coloredmonofilaments spun from the spinning pack 1 in the cooling water tank18. A receiving roll 20 is disposed to be adjacent to the forming roll19 and furthermore, a carrying belt 22 being supported by belt wheels21, 21' is provided in the lower part of the receiving roll 20.Reference numeral 23 denotes a carrying conveyer for carrying thedoormat which is disposed outside of the cooling water tank 18.

The cooling water whose temperature is kept at a fixed value (50°-60°C.) is stored inside of the cooling water tank 18. This cooling water isset at a temperature that does not drastically cool a plurality of themonofilaments spun from the spinning pack 1 and gradually cools them sothat the group of loops of a uniform size may be formed.

The water temperature of the cooling water tank 18 is adjusted asfollows. An outflow pipe 25 communicating with the inside is provided onthe upper part of the side wall of the cooling water tank 18, and aninflow pipe 26 is similarly provided in the lower part thereof, and theoutflow pipe 25 and the inflow pipe 26 are connected by means of acirculating pump 27 and a hot water heater 28, and a water feed pipe 30provided with a cooling water supply valve 29 is connected to the rearof the hot water heater 28. Also, a water temperature gauge 31 isdisposed at the other side of the cooling water tank 18 and itsdetecting unit is submerged in the water.

The water temperature in the cooling water tank 18 is adjusted to keep aconstant temperature by signals emitted from the water temperature gauge31 so that the water in the tank is sucked into the hot water heater 28from the inflow pipe 26 and is heated, and the heated hot water isreturned into the tank from the outflow pipe 25 or the cooling watervalve 29 is released to flow the cooling water sent from the water feedpipe 30 into the tank from the outflow pipe 25. By the way, the waterlevel 24 of the cooling water is set to be a predetermined level in thelower part of the group of nozzles.

The colored monofilaments spun from the spinning pack 1 are sequentiallysuspended and are received on the upper surface of the forming roll 19and the reverse of the doormat and the middle layer thereof are formedby the accumulation of the random loops. And then, the part of thecolored monofilaments is received on the water level 24 at a positionlower than the upper surface of the forming roll 19, and the surfacelayer of the doormat is formed by the loops consisting of irregularthree dimensional curve. Each of the loops is fused and bonded mutuallyat an intersecting portion where they are crossed mutually so that theyare integrated. Thus, the mottled doormat is formed as the loops of theA color and the B color of the two colored monofilaments are mutually tobe adjacent to each other in entangled form. Or the loops of the Acolored and the B colored monofilaments are alternately accumulated in afixed width, whereby the striped doormat is formed in which the A colorand the B color are alternately disposed.

The doormat formed by the foregoing is carried to the outside of thecooling water tank 18 by the carrying belt 22 through the receiving roll20 as shown by the arrow by the rotation of the forming roll 19, andthen is carried by the carrying conveyor 23.

Accordingly, the molten resin extruded from the one extruder is Acolored and the molten resin extruded from the other extruder is Bcolored, and they are supplied to the zone flowpath from thecommunicating pipe line, and the colored monofilaments are spun from themulti-hole nozzle holes. The spun colored monofilaments are accumulatedin the random loop form on the collecting belt to form the doormat.

The branch flowpaths of each zone flowpath which are arranged obliquelyin the advancing direction of the collecting belt, namely, the crosswisedirection of the resin flowpath unit are accumulated by drawing the loopso that the A colored and the B colored monofilaments are mutually to beadjacent to each other whereby the mottled different colors are formed.The branch flowpaths of each zone which are arranged in parallel to thecrosswise direction of the resin flowpath unit are such that the Acolored and the B colored monofilaments are in the row form, namely, thecoloration of the stripe. Therefore, in case the resin flowpath unitwhose forming direction of each flowpath is exchanged, whereby themottled multicolor doormat of the color pattern or the striped patternmulticolor doormat may be manufactured freely by changing over.

In the above-mentioned examples, in order to facilitate an easycomprehension of the description, an embodiment showed a multicolordoormat formed in two colored monofilaments consisting of an A color anda B color, and its manufacturing method and a doormat manufacturingdevice, but this invention can quote a multicolor doormat of more thanthree colors and a manufacturing method of such mats and a manufacturingdevice for such mats.

As described in the foregoing, this invention is to provide themulticolor doormat which has not been found heretofore, and is toprovide a method of manufacturing by which it is effective andcontinuously manufactured, and to provide a doormat manufacturingdevice. Moreover, the mottled multicolor doormat or the stripedmulticolor doormat of different color can be easily manufactured bychanging over the resin flowpath unit of the spinning pack, and it hasan epoch making effect.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for manufacturing a multicolor doormat,comprisingsupplying molten resins of at least two different colors froma plurality of extruders via respective communicating pipelines to aspinning pack having a rectangular shape and defining a plane, theplurality of extruders disposed at opposite ends of the spinning packfor supplying the molten resins to the spinning pack, providing thespinning pack with a resin flowpath changeover unit and a multiholenozzle plate, the resin flowpath changeover unit having a surface incontact with the multihole nozzle plate and having a longitudinal axis,the resin flowpath unit including the respective communicating pipelinefor each extruder, each communicating pipeline being connected to andlongitudinally aligned with each respective extruder, the resin flowpathchangeover unit having a plurality of longitudinally extending mainflowpaths, each of which being longitudinally aligned with andcommunicating with a respective communicating pipeline, eachlongitudinally extending main flowpath having a plurality of branchflowpaths, each branch flowpath being angled with respect to saidlongitudinal axis, the pluralities of branch flowpaths substantiallycovering the surface of the resin flowpath changeover unit, and themultihole nozzle plate having at least one nozzle hole in communicationwith each branch flowpath of said plurality of branch flowpaths, thecommunicating pipelines, the longitudinally extending main flowpaths andthe plurality of branch flowpaths lying in a plane of said resinflowpath changeover unit, distributing each colored resin to arespective longitudinally extending main flowpath so that each coloredresin flows along respective branch flowpaths in communication with saidrespective longitudinally extending main flowpath and exits nozzle holescommunicating with said respective branch flowpaths, spinning amonofilament from the colored resin exiting each hole of the multiholenozzle plate, and accumulating the monofilaments to produce themulticolor doormat.
 2. A method as defined by claim 1, wherein themonofilaments are accumulated in random loop form on a collecting beltsupported under the spinning pack on a pair of belt wheels rotating inthe same direction.
 3. A method as defined by claim 1, wherein the stepof accumulating the monofilaments comprisesreceiving a first portion ofmonofilaments on the surface of a forming roll to form a reverse layerof the doormat, receiving a second portion of monofilaments on thereverse layer to form a middle layer of the doormat, receiving a thirdportion of monofilaments on the middle layer to form a surface layer ofthe doormat, the surface layer being formed of loops of irregular threedimensional curves and being received on the middle layer at a positionwhere the middle layer enters a cooling water bath, and integrating theloops by fusing mutually crossed loops at their intersecting portions.4. A method as defined by claim 1, wherein two colored resins are used,the resin flowpath unit has a pair of longitudinally extending mainflowpaths and branch flowpaths from said pair of longitudinallyextending main flowpaths are alternatively arranged along saidlongitudinal axis into first and second sets, a resin of a first colorbeing distributed to said first set of branch flowpaths and a resin of asecond color being distributed to said second set of branch flowpaths.